LawyersMonique Jilesen

About

Monique* is a seasoned litigator who clients turn to for their toughest commercial disputes. Recognized as one of Canada’s top 50 trial lawyers, she has an enviable record of success at trials, making it clear that she leads§ her clients to a winning case. She is also admired by her peers and judges for her advocacy talents, earning the prestigious Douglas K. Laidlaw Medal for Excellence in Advocacy for 2017. If a complex case needs representation, Monique shows clients the way‡ from start to finish. Monique is also a leader outside of the courtroom. She is an Executive Member of The Advocates' Society Commercial List Practice Group, a past chair of the Gale Cup Moot Committee and regular advocacy instructor for the Advocates’ Society and Osgoode Hall Law School..

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Monique Jilesen

is a partner at Lenczner Slaght.

Monique is litigation counsel in complex proceedings from inception through trial. She focuses on class actions, contract and shareholder disputes, civil fraud cases, injunctions, bankruptcy and insolvency matters, and securities and derivatives cases. Monique’s clients include major financial institutions, pharmaceutical companies, technology companies, and other multinational corporations who routinely face challenging, cross-border disputes. She appears at all levels of Court and in administrative tribunals. Monique has a record of success at trial in bet the company disputes.

Monique is widely recognized as leading counsel. Benchmark Canada has identified her as one of Canada’s top 50 trial lawyers and Lexpert has identified her as one of the leading 500 lawyers in Canada. The Advocates’ Society awarded her the Douglas K. Laidlaw for Excellence in Advocacy.

Monique is a member of the Toronto Commercial List Users’ Committee, an Executive Member of the Advocates’ Society Commercial List Practice Group and the past chair of the Gale Cup Moot. She is a regular speaker on various topics, including expert evidence, class proceedings, and injunction advocacy. She also teaches in the Intensive Trial Advocacy Program at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Counsel to the Government of Canada in a lengthy Federal Court of Canada trial, in which the claim for $400 million involving allegations of procurement bid for engineering and technical services was successfully defended.

Counsel to Devonshire Trust in a case arising out of the disruption of the Canadian Asset Backed Commercial Paper market in August 2007. Devonshire Trust was successful after a lengthy trial. The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial judge's decision and found that Barclays' notice terminating the swap transaction was invalid because of Barclays' misrepresentation and bad faith.

Counsel to a former director and officer of Coventree Inc. in a regulatory proceeding before the Ontario Securities Commission in connection with disclosure obligations surrounding the collapse of the Asset Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP) market in Canada. Counsel in appeals to the Divisional Court and Court of Appeal.

Counsel to the monitor in a complex insolvency proceeding involving a myriad of cross-border issues and over 100 interlocutory motions and other contested matters. Lenczner Slaght managed the creditor claims process, which involved the administration and coordination of the adjudication of hundreds of proven claims against Air Canada, with an aggregate value of CAD $8 billion.

Successful motion by the defendants for an order quashing notices of examination and a motion to set aside a consent order on the grounds that the notices and motion were frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of process.

Counsel to CN in a complex dispute involving employee fraud, accounting of profits, abuse of process, defamation and negligent exercise of statutory dispute. In the course of the proceedings, obtained Anton Pillar and Mareva injunctions in order to protect evidence and assets related to the alleged employee fraud.

Canadian counsel to Calpine Corporation in the complex, cross-border Calpine insolvency proceeding which included CCAA proceedings in Alberta and simultaneous Chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. At the time of filing, Calpine was the sixth largest case to file Chapter 11 in U.S. restructuring history and one of the largest CCAA proceedings in Canadian restructuring history.

Counsel in an appeal of a decision of the Municipal Board rescinding appointment of a member of the Conservation Review Board to the Municipal Board and decision directing the Town to permit relocation of two heritage buildings.

Counsel to the Court-appointed inspector, Ernst & Young, in proceedings relating to Hollinger Inc. Included a successful motion and appeal to examine a witness under oath, in face of an argument that it violated constitutional rights which protected self-incrimination.

Counsel as amicus to the Superior Court in an application brought by The Corporation of the City of Brantford for an interlocutory injunction to prevent work stoppages on municipal sites within the City, and a motion brought by the respondents, First Nations' individuals, seeking to set aside two by-laws passed by the applicant prohibiting the blockage and disruption.

It’s no surprise to litigators that some courts tend to be relaxed with the rules of evidence in civil cases. In many contexts, courts are prepared to admit inadmissible hearsay evidence and simply address evidentiary concerns by noting that such evidence may be given less weight. That type of approach was often taken in cases under section 8 of the Patented Medicine (Notice of Compliance) Regulations.

The "corporate veil" is an old and well-establish concept. Corporations are separate legal entities under the law and, generally, liability will not flow through the corporation and onto the owners and directors. This is why a corporate bankruptcy doesn't result in a flurry of debt collectors knocking on the door of every shareholder.

Monique Jilesen was mentioned in the Law Times article “Crown must pay costs after being ‘overly enthusiastic’” on July 30, 2018.

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Monique Jilesen, a partner at Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP, says lawyers must tread carefully when they get into the merits of a proposed class action, even as early as certification, as parties try to get as much information as possible.

That’s especially the case with expert witnesses, since Canadian procedure doesn’t usually have discovery of expert witnesses in advance of trial.

“It was just a disproportionate request to what was being asked,” Jilesen says, who was not involved in the case.

Monique Jilesen is featured in the Commercial Law episode of the Lawyered Podcast hosted by Husein Panju. On this episode, Monique shares her insight and expertise on important Canadian legal issues in Commercial Law, including third-party litigation funding, summary judgement procedures and the development of the duty of good faith.

19 Lenczner Slaght leading litigators are ranked in Benchmark Litigation's 2018 directory, including 7 new additions since last year. Three of the firm's litigation stars are also recognized as a Top 50 Trial Lawyer in Canada.

Monique Jilesen is quoted in the Canadian Press article Ontario activist still wants to proceed with Cleveland Indians complaint, despite team dropping logo, which has been picked up by the National Post, the Globe & Mail, and Global News. The article discusses the recent decision made by MLB and the Cleveland baseball team to discontinue the use of the discriminatory Chief Wahoo logo.

Following a year and a half of ongoing litigation on this matter, Lenczner Slaght and Douglas Cardinal are delighted by the decision of Major League Baseball and the Cleveland baseball team to discontinue the discriminatory Chief Wahoo logo on the Cleveland uniforms beginning in 2019.

Canada’s leading litigation firm is one of two firms with the highest number of lawyers ranked in Corporate Commercial Litigation in the 2018 Lexpert®/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada.

Monique Jilesen appears on the cover of the 2017 issue of Lexpert/ROB Special Edition: Canada's Leading Litigation Lawyers. She is also quoted in the article The Anonymous Representive where she discusses anonymous representative plaintiffs in Canadian class action law suits.

Monique Jilesen was quoted in Law Times on August 17, 2015 on the Court of Appeal decision in Rea v. Wildeboer involving a public company where the specific allegations, essentially of insider trading or self-dealing, solely involved harm to the corporation as opposed to harming the specific interests of a shareholder.

Monique Jilesen will be the moderator for two panels at Lexpert's Litigation Funding event. The first panel is called "What is litigation funding, what types of cases are suitable, how do companies typically use funding and how does the process work?" The second panel called "Due Diligence Process" will cover the preparation needed, high-level assessment, and take a deep dive on due diligence.

Monique Jilesen will be a panelist on the Cavanagh LLP Professionalism Speaker Series at the University of Ottawa on November 15, 2018. She will speak about equitable and inclusive hiring practices in the law firm.

Monique Jilesen and Shara N. Roy will be speaking at the Benchmark Women in Litigation Toronto Forum. They will participate on the panel “Successfully managing complex litigation” with in-house counsel from Fengate Capital Management, Telus and PwC.

Monique Jilesen was the Co-Chair for the "Objection, Your Honor!" session at The Advocates' Society's Annual Civil Litigation program. As an experienced litigator, she spoke on how to make effective objections in the courtroom.

Monique Jilesen spoke at The Law Society of Ontario's program "The Intersection of Business and Family Law for Family Lawyers". She spoke on the topic of Corporate Divorces & OBCA Remedies which touched on Windups, Oppression, Derivative Actions and Other Options.

Monique Jilesen taught at The Advocates’ Society's In-House Advocacy Training for Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP. She was a skills instructor during the education program which consisted of faculty discussion, demonstration sessions and mock skills exercises.

Monique Jilesen once again served as faculty for The Advocates' Society professional development workshop Winning Injunctions on November 24, 2017. Monique discussed the skills and strategies required to seek and oppose injunctive relief.